NEARNESS AND CONFIDENCE
[p. 19] NEARNESS AND CONFIDENCE
2 Timothy 1: 12; Ephesians 2: 13
It is of all moment that we should first clearly understand the things which are distinctively characteristic of Christianity, and then see how they affect us in our pathway through the world. It is in this pathway that the faith of saints is practically tested. Many of us would like to find some unvarying rule by which, in the midst of church difficulties, to steer our way; while, as to circumstances, we should be well pleased to see, as another has said, a full supply for every need within our reach. Neither the one nor the other is at all likely to be the experience of saints if going on with God, since there would in either case be but little call for the exercise of faith, or of moral perception. The question then arises, Are we to be dismayed by the anticipation of troubles in the assembly, or of pressure in our individual path? What is the antidote? The answer is confidence — and confidence is the effect of nearness, having its source in the knowledge of God: “I know whom I have believed”. Nearness may be spoken of as the peculiar characteristic blessing of Christianity. Now that redemption has been accomplished, and Christ is exalted as Man to God’s right hand, God has begun to effectuate the purposes of His will, and in this the heavenly takes precedence of the earthly.
The two great parts of God’s will are constantly before us in the Hebrews, in the distinction between the sanctuary and the covenant. As being for the moment God’s people on the earth, Christians come incidentally into the blessings of the new covenant; but the calling is as priests to serve a living God in the sanctuary. Every part of the New Testament coincides in showing nearness to be the peculiar portion [p. 20] of Christians. The beginning of the gospel of Luke is that God has approached man where he is in such wise as that the pious Simeon could take the infant Saviour in his arms. The Son of God had come down into man’s place and circumstances. The end is that the risen Lord takes the repentant thief to be with Him in His place. He first visits man here in grace, and then, in virtue of His work, takes man to be a resident with Him in paradise.
In John we find not only the manifestation on earth of the eternal life which was with the Father, but also the work of the Father who was seeking worshippers in spirit and in truth, and was drawing to the Son, that the Son might introduce those drawn to Him into the blessing and privilege of eternal life; and this not deferred, but present, though the communion of His death was essential to it. He that ate His flesh and drank His blood had eternal life. As He lived because of the Father, so he that ate Him would live because of Him. The place suitable to this was the Father’s house, to which He would bring His own; but meantime the Comforter would come, and in that day they would know that Jesus was in the Father, and they in Him, and He in them.
When we come to Paul we find more definitely the new place for man in Christ, and the truth of new creation. The expression “in Christ Jesus ... made nigh” in Ephesians 2: 13, may mean dispensationally, in contrast with the previous place of Gentiles; but the climax of the teaching is that God has made Jew and Gentile to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages He may display in them the exceeding riches of His grace. But already we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Jesus.
Now no expression is more remarkable than this — to have boldness with God, and liberty with confidence. It is a condition of things which could exist only where [p. 21] the Spirit is, and certainly conveys the idea, that we have to do with a God who has pleasure in being approached, and who sets Himself to encourage those who have the privilege of approaching.
In the Hebrews we are on somewhat different ground, and it is important to remember that no shadow in the law contained the very image of Christian privilege. There we find that though believers have, as being incidentally a people of God on earth, a throne of grace, the calling is that they are sons, whom Christ is not ashamed to call brethren; and that, as a priestly company, they already have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, to serve the living God. We not only receive, as Israel will, the effect of Christ’s death in forgiveness here, but we must go through that death into the marvellous light of God’s presence, into which flesh has no entrance.
Now here are privileges which properly belong to heaven, and to those who have the Spirit of God’s Son. They are the proper inalienable portion of saints now; and our life down here being, as it were, an incident in the ways of God, is subordinate to our heavenly privileges. We miss the mark if we attempt to reverse the order. More than this, it may be doubted if any saint who has tasted the blessing of nearness, and the peculiar delight of boldness with God, would care to attach much importance to life and circumstances here, save as they give him opportunity of doing God’s will in patience, and having part in the ministry of grace. And the touchstone of things now is not how they compromise our character in the eyes of men, but how they affect and hinder our sense of boldness and liberty with God.
Now where we fail to walk in the enjoyment of our privileges, the spirit of distrust soon finds place in the heart. On the other hand, there is a warmth in nearness which nourishes confidence, and if we ask anything according to His will, we know that He heareth [p. 22] us. It is thus we are enabled to go fearlessly through the world.
In the presence of difficulties in the assembly, saints are often puzzled and overwhelmed by a cloud of writing and talk; what we need is to be so in the enjoyment of liberty with God, that we maintain confidence; the result is, that we instinctively gain a sense of what is according to God, and a moral judgment often of spirits as well as of words. The Lord had, as one may say, His intuitions from above (John 5: 30), and we have to try the spirits whether they are of God, because everything is not now to be trusted. The same spirit of confidence applies to difficulties in the individual path of saints. The secret of ability to endure is confidence in a living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of them that believe — a confidence that leaves all with God, in the sense that from the outset He has laid out all our pathway down here, having in view an end that is worthy of His goodness. There is no other secret of health and comfort in the soul of the saint, and it is in the liberty of nearness to God that this secret is learned.
May the Lord awaken saints to the sense of their privileges, that the Father’s house may be the fitting climax to their experience here!